Report: 76ers hiring Nick Nurse as new head coach

The Philadelphia 76ers are hiring former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse as the team's new bench boss, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday.

Nurse, an NBA champion in 2019, will take over from former lead man Doc Rivers, who was let go after Philadelphia blew a 3-2 second-round lead to the Boston Celtics earlier in May.

The 55-year-old was fired by the Toronto Raptors in April after the team failed to make it out of the play-in tournament. Nurse went 227-163 with Toronto in his first NBA head coaching gig but won just one playoff series outside of the title run in his debut season.

The 76ers and 2023 Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid have won at least 51 games in each of the last four 82-game seasons but have failed to make it past the second round.

Nurse and Embiid's pairing could prove slightly awkward at first thanks to their recent history. With Toronto, Nurse eliminated Embiid and the 76ers in the East semifinals during the teams' 2019 championship playoff run before Philadelphia returned the favor in the 2022 first round.

The 76ers star center has criticized Nurse on multiple occasions for complaining to officials. This postseason, he unexpectedly namedropped him by saying the Brooklyn Nets and Jacque Vaughn "took the Nick Nurse route of begging for free throws." Nurse has never publicly addressed the remark.

Philadelphia has multiple offseason questions to answer as it aims to remain a title competitor around Embiid. That mainly includes the status of James Harden, who can decline his player option and become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Nurse reportedly pulled out of the running for the Milwaukee Bucks' coaching job Saturday, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania. Milwaukee instead picked Nurse's former Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin.